Wild capitalize on Kraken mistakes

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No one would blame the Seattle Kraken if before next season’s schedule is released, the team lobbies for no more back-to-back games.

Last night, marked the tenth time this season that the Kraken played for a[i] second consecutive night. And the result in those games is an 0-10 record.

Facing an injury-plagued Minnesota Wild team, the Kraken surrendered three goals in 42 seconds en route to a  4-0 loss. And after 4:29 of the first period, the Kraken were already down 3-0.

The Wild were missing five regulars including their best player- Kirill Kaprizov- who was having an MVP-like season- and his partner on the first line, Joel Eriksson-Ek. (Kaprizov’s still the Wild’s leading scorer even though he hasn’t played since December).

It was a far cry from the previous night’s 6-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. But for whatever reason, the Kraken weren’t ready to play this one.

After a couple of early Seattle shots, the Wild upped the pressure in their offensive zone. Ryan Hartman, recently returned from an eight-game suspension, scored off a centering pass from Zack Bogasian at 2:47.

A little over a minute later, the Wild made it 2-0. Amidst a battle along the boards, Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz centered a pass directly on the stick of Matt Boldy, who fired one past Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer. It was Boldy’s first goal in 12 games, and first since competing for Team USA in the 4Nations tourney.

It took only 30 seconds to make it 3-0 as the Wild capitalized on an odd man rush with Liam Ohgren, just recalled from the American Hockey League, sending one home off a pass from Freddy Gaudreau.

Kraken coach Dan Bylsma summarized the sequence as, ``bad D-zone coverage, a turnover on our side of the ice, and a misread on a rush. Too easy. But Grubi made some Grade A saves after that.’’

``Tough start,’’ said Schwartz. ``We’re down 3-0, but I didn’t think it was a bad period overall. A couple of breakdowns. We weren’t checking guys in the right spot.’’

The Kraken would actually outshoot their guests 14-10 in the first period, in this case a misleading statistic. The second and third periods were pretty even, but when the Kraken did get a scoring chance, Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson (the game’s number-one star) made the stop.

Boldy wrapped things up with an empty-netter in the final two minutes. The Kraken fall to 30-35-5, after going 4-1-1 in their last six games. The Wild improve to 39-25-5, good for fourth place in the Central Division. However, Minnesota owns the first Western Conference wild-card spot in the playoffs, eight points ahead of St. Louis and Vancouver.

The Kraken trailed 2-0 early against the Blackhawks on Tuesday night, but rallied for six unanswered goals. Adam Larsson had a goal and two assists on defense and Shane Wright added two goals.

Seattle continues its road trip facing Edmonton on Saturday and Calgary next Tuesday night before heading home.

KRAKEN-WILD

Scoring Summary

First Period

M- Ryan Hartman (Zack Bogosian, Vinnie Hinostroza) 3:47.

M- Matt Boldy (unassisted) 3:59.

M- Liam Ohgren (Freddy Gaudreau, Gustuv Nyquist) 4:29.

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

M- Boldy (Bogosian) EN, 18:23.

Shots on Goal- Seattle 34 (Shane Wright, Ryker Evans 4), Minnesota (Ryan Hartman, Liam Ohgren 4).

Hits- Seattle 17 (Jordan Eberle 4), Minnesota (Brendan Gaunce 3).

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 6, Minnesota 6.

Faceoffs- Seattle 50.0%, Minnesoa 50.0%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 9 (Brandon Montour 3), Minnesota 18 (Brendan Gaunce 3).

Referees- Jake Brenk, Corey Syvret. Linesmen- Matt MacPherson, Kyle Flemington.

Three Stars- 1. Filip Gustafson. 2. Ryan Hartman, Matt Boldy.

KRAKEN-BLACK HAWKS

Scoring Summary

First Period

C- Connor Bedard (Artyom Levshunov, Todd Bertuzzi) 3:46.

C- Bertuzzi (Alex Vlasic, Lucas Reichel) 17:15.

S- Adam Larsson (Matty Beniers, Jaden Schwartz) 17:44.

Second Period

S- Jordan Eberle (Chandler Stephenson, Jamie Oleksiak) 5:55.

S- Jared McCann (Andre Burakovsky)

S- Beniers (Larsson, Vince Dunn) 12:53.

S- Shane Wright (Mikey Eyssimont, Brandon Montour) 15:13.

Third Period

S- Wright (Larsson, Burakovsky)

Shots on Goal- Seattle 30 (Shane Wright 3), Chicago (Nick Foligno 6).

Hits- Seattle 16 (Adam Larsson 5) Chicago (Connor Murphy 6).

Penalty Minutes- Seattle 7, Chicago 7.

Faceoffs- Seattle 38.9%. Chicago 61.1%.

Blocked Shots- Seattle 10 (John Hayden, Chandler Stephenson 2), Seattle (Connor Murphy, Alex Vlasik 2).

Referees- Carter Sandlak, Pierre Lambert. Linesmen- Matt McPherson, Kieran, McNamara.

Three Stars- 1. Adam Larsson. 2. Shane Wright S. 3. Matty Beniers.



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